Growing up as a child, my dad used to bring my big sister and I borrowed books from a library in Takoradi. On one such occasion, he brought a book which had a huge influence on my thinking process. I've unfortunately forgotten the book's title.
But it was a history book tailored for children. It was colorful, easy to read and understand, and very informative. Through that book, I learnt about Thomas Edison and how curious he was, Eleanor Roosevelt and her courage, Florence Nightingale and her kindness…
I also learnt about Mount Rushmore and how it was built, the statue of liberty (which was a gift from France to the US), and even about the journey of bananas from the farm to the store.
Some way, somehow, that book got me believing in the American dream. And you can't blame me much. This is an ordinary Ghanaian boy who had been exposed to a sugar coated US history yet knew nothing about his country.
I had seen America projected as a Land for inventors, a land for nurses, farmers, soldiers and what have you. I had seen an America that was tailored and built for me.
People close to me know how I badly wanted to study and live in the US. I felt a connection to the American dream and this dream was strengthened even more when I had the privilege of traveling to the US as a finalist in the 2016 IREX World Smarts STEM Challenge.
One book about the history of a country miles away from me got me very interested in chasing the dream of that country.
I sat to reflect and as I reflected I was very saddened. I love reading yet I know very little about the history of Ghana and Africa. Majority of the history I knew about the continent was related to the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade and colonization.
Reading history which portrayed me as an inferior being did not do me so much good.
Like me, how much do you know about Africa? Is it a history based on the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade? Or is it one which projects us as inferior beings?
The challenge we have as Africans is to find out what our history was before slave trade and colonization. Africa is the cradle of humanity and it's not acceptable that our long and rich history is either missing or untold.
Where is our rich history? How do we find it? And by the way, who wrote the current version of Africa's history for us? We have to be very concerned about our history as it inspires and guides us.
After that is done, we have to make this history accessible to our kids and future generations. We have to start shaping their perspectives NOW!
Although my strengths are in Science and Tech, this is a challenge I'm willing to take on. Fortunately, I'm still in Ghana and I'm beginning to appreciate my sense of being Ghanaian and African now.
